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5 Things

March 7, 2013

Ana tagged me into this situation and so, regardless of my ignorance of the rules, I’ll play along. I think it goes like this…

1. I held the school record in the women’s pole vault during my sophomore year of high school. I was a competitor the very first year the sport was introduced for women in Colorado, and I guess I capitalized on the novelty with a mediocre 8 ft, 0 inches which is proudly ensconced in glass in a florescent-lit hallway to this day. Maybe I have plans to take my kids there for a visit some day, maybe I don’t. But a girl can dream…

2. I had a doula (the same doula, actually) present for the birth’s of both my children. I even took a Bradley class before Joseph was born, and was dead set against an epidural, etc. And I would do it again, the doula part, if ever we were to go it another round. Sure, it was $500 bucks, and sure, I let her stencil henna on my massive, stretch-marked belly and yes, she absolutely braided my hair during the second stage of labor. And there were candles and everything. But I still loooooved me some modern technology in the end. Moral of the story: be a good boy scout, but don’t be afraid to say yes to drugs.

3. My favorite thing to do in the whole world is to curl up on a couch/hammock/chair/airplane seat with a good read. I learned to read really, really early, and while I don’t get as much time these days, I still read a bit every single day. When I was in elementary school I was frequently in trouble for reading under my desk and spacing out with the latest volume from the Babysitter’s Club during math class. This is the reason I can name every single original club member, to this day (including junior officers, hello, Mallory was a critical supporting cast member) but I cannot accurately predict my total at the grocery store to save my life. What? Some of my all-time favorite authors are Michael O’Brien, James Michener, C.S. Lewis, Laura Ingalls Wilder, (haters gonna hate) and Anthony Doerr. Okay, and the lady who wrote the Hunger Games. Go on and judge me.

4. My go-to drink order in a fancy and/or highly stressful situation is a Grey Goose and soda on the rocks with lime. Not lemon, only lime. Absolute will do in a pinch, but I won’t drink vodka any cheaper than Stoli, because I don’t hate myself that much.

5. My favorite thing about being Catholic, aside from the obvious Sacramental answers, has to be the relationship between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant – aka the Saints. I regularly go to St. Therese, St. Joseph, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis, St. Rose of Lima, and a host of others when I need favors, advice, help, or encouragement, heavenly or otherwise. I have never thought it was a creepy or indefensible point of doctrine … it always struck me as so natural. Asking friends for help is the most natural thing in the world, after all, even when it’s a little humbling. I remember being confused the first time a Protestant friend grilled me on the practice, and I was honestly taken aback by her vehement insistence that the saints are ‘dead’ and therefore of no help to us. But the Resurrection? Life after death? Heaven? … Strikes me as the most fundamentally Christian practice in the world – or out of the world, rather – to ask our elder brothers and sisters in Faith for help.

I just heard you on the show with Colleen Campbell. I kept hearing a little one, and didn’t think it was hers, so when she said something about the baby and who it was, I was excited to hear you on the air with my friend Colleen. I love your blog and your pictures from Rome.